Oral Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2022

Essential elements of optimal dietary and exercise referral practices for cancer survivors: Expert consensus for medical and nursing health professionals.   (#137)

Ria Joseph 1 , Nicolas H Hart 1 2 3 4 , Natalie Bradford 2 , Matthew P Wallen 1 5 , Chad Y Han 1 , Elizabeth P Pinkham 2 6 , Brigid Hanley 7 , Gemma Lock 7 , David Wyld 2 8 9 , Laurelie Wishart 10 11 12 , Bogda Koczwara 13 , Alexandre Chan 14 , Oluwaseyifunmi Andi Agbejule 1 , Megan Crichton 2 15 , Laisa Teleni 2 , Justin J Holland 16 , Kelli Edmiston 17 , Leonie Naumann 18 , Teresa Brown 19 , Raymond J Chan 1 2 11
  1. Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  2. Cancer and Palliative Care Outcomes Centre, School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  3. Exercise Medicine Research Institute, School of Medical and Health Science, Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, Australia
  4. Institute for Health Research, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
  5. School of Science, Psychology and Sport, Federation University Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  6. Physiotherapy Department and Division of Cancer Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Health, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  7. Cancer Council Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  8. Cancer Care Services, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Metro North Health, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  9. School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  10. Centre for Functioning and Health Research, Metro South Health, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  11. Division of Cancer Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Health, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  12. School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  13. Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  14. Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, US
  15. Nutrition and Dietetics Research Group, Bond University, Robina, QLD, Australia
  16. School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  17. Nutrition and Dietetics, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Metro South Health, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  18. Physiotherapy, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Metro North Health, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  19. Nutrition and Dietetics, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Metro South Health, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Purpose: To develop and establish expert consensus on essential elements of optimal dietary and exercise referral practices for cancer survivors.

Methods: A four-round modified, Delphi method (face-to-face and electronic). In Round 1, initial statements were drafted based on Cancer Australia’s Principles of Cancer Survivorship and input from key stakeholders (e.g., consumers, allied health, cancer specialists) through a cancer pre-conference workshop. In Round 2, the initial statements were distributed to a stakeholder panel (Round 1 participants) to establish consensus by rating the importance of each statement using a five-point Likert scale. Statements that required significant changes in wording were re-distributed to panel members in Round 3 for voting. Round 4 was for consumers only, requiring them to rate their level of agreement of final statements.

Results: Eighty-two stakeholders participated in Round 1. Response rates for survey Rounds 2 and 3 were 59% (n=54) and 39% (n=36) respectively. Panel members included nurses (22%), dietitians (19%), exercise professionals (16%), and medical practitioners (8%) working in cancer care, and consumers (4%). Mean “importance” rating for all essential element statements was 4.28 or higher (i.e., fairly important, or very important). Round 4’s consumer-only engagement received responses from 58 consumers. Overall, 24 essential elements reached consensus following some revised wording, including the development of three new statements based on panel feedback.

Conclusion: Our developed essential elements of optimal dietary and exercise referral practices can help provide guidance to medical and nursing health professionals relevant to dietary and exercise referral practices. Future research should conduct an implementation intervention and evaluation of these essential elements to optimise dietary and exercise care in cancer survivors.